Fountain pens



P 1962 E. B. NICHOLS 3,055,342

FOUNTAIN PENS Filed April 2, 1957 FIG. I

. \1 I r I I I INVENTOR AR B. NICHOLS EDG ink ATTORNEYS United States Patent ,0

3,055,342 FOUNTAIN PENS Edgar B. Nichols, 325 W. Main St., Moorestown, NJ. Filed Apr. 2, 1957, Ser. No. 650,162 10 Claims. (Cl. 120-50) This invention relates to improvements in feed bars for fountain pens and particularly to improvements in the feed bar shown and described in my co-pending application Ser. No. 394,178, filed November 24, 1953, now Patent No. 2,795,211, dated June 11, 1957.

According to the invention of my prior application the conduit between the ink reservoir and the cavity of the feed bar underlying the pen point consists in part of a helical groove in the outer surface of the feed bar, the contour of the groove being such as to provide a capillary passage for the downflow of the ink with an overlying open passage for the inflow of air to replace the ink used in writing. As pointed out in said application, with the feed bar so constructed the channel between the pen point and the ink reservoir always contains ink, so the pen writes immediately upon use even though it has been carried in the pocket with the point up for a long period of time. Also the flow of ink is much more even than with feed bars of conventional construction and' the tendency to blot when the pen is first used after being held in writing position above the paper for a period of time is greatly reduced.

The pen is disclosed in my above mentioned application has one drawback, namely, that the passage to the cavity under the pen point from the helical groove which terminates within the pen barrel extends along the outer surface of the feed bar so that when the pen is dipped in the ink for filling, air will be drawn in with the ink unless the end of the pen barrel isimmersed in the ink. When the pen is so immersed ink is left on the end of the pen barrel, which is of course undesirable.

In my improved structure as disclosed in the present application this drawback is avoided and also the cost of the pen is greatly reduced and the performance of the pen greatly improved, all as will be more fully explained in the accompanying specification.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated two forms of my improved pen structure, and in the said drawings:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section of my improved pen on an enlarged scale, the section being taken on the median line of the pen point;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the pen of FIG. 1, partly in section on a plane at right angles to the plane of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are transverse sections on lines 3-3 and 44 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 1 showing a modified form of feed bar.

Referring to the drawings, particularly to FIGS. 1-4, inclusive, 1 indicates the pen barrel and 2 the sleeve which is fitted into the end of the pen barrel and carries the pen point 3, the feed bar 4 and the rubber sack 5 in which the ink is contained in the customary manner.

My improved feed bar consists of two parts which are substantially identical except that the parts are right handed and left handed with respect to each other so that when put together along their matching faces they form a complete feed bar of the usual circular cross section. In FIG. 1 which, as stated above, is a section on the median line of the pen point, one part only of the feed bar is shown. The two parts of the feed bar are marked 6a and 6b, respectively, and each part is throughout the major portion of its length as shown in FIG. 4, of semicircular cross section, the two parts being held in proper relative positions with respect to each other by semispherical projections 7 on one part, the

part 6B as shown in FIG. 3, which fit into correspondingly shaped depressions in the opposite part 6a.

Around the end of the feed bar in the sleeve 2 is a helical groove 9 having at its base a small capillary groove 10 with an overlying space for the upfiow of air, all as described in my co-pending application above mentioned. The groove 9 does not, however, extend as in my prior application to the space underlying the pen point, but terminates at a point well above the upper edge of the pen point and is there connected with a bore 11 which extends inwardly and downwardly in the feed bar and thence back and forth within the feed bar in a circuitous path 12 as shown in FIG. 1 to the space 13 underlying the pen point 3.

The bore 11 and passage 12 are formed by meeting grooves in the contacting faces of the two parts 6a and 6b, the resulting bore and passage providing two capillary grooves for the flow of the ink with a central open passage for the inflow of the air, as will be seen in FIG. 4. By virtue of this structure the two parts of the feed bar may be molded from plastic material without machining of any kind and may be readily assembled in the sleeve 2 by virtue of the interfitting projections and depressions 7 and 8. By thus having the passage from the helical groove to the space beneath the pen point entirely within the feed bar there is no possibility of air being taken into the ink reservoir when the pen is filled in the usual manner by dipping the point in the ink well to a sufi'icient depth to submerge the opening 13 beneath the pen point but with the end of the pen barrel well above the surface of the ink.

The making of the feed bar in two parts greatly reduces the cost of manufacture. When the helical groove is shaped as shown in FIG. 2, that is, with the portions of the helical groove on each side of the contacting surfaces of the two halves circumferential to the axis of the feed bar instead of at an angle thereto, the parts can be molded in mold cavities formed in the plane surface of a single solid mold with a similar overlying solid mold member having on its face a rib of a shape complementary to the shape of the bore 11 and circuitous passage 12. With molds of this construction the molded parts on solidification can be removed by simply inverting the mold member so that the molding of a large number of members in a single mold can be effected.

In FIG. 5 I have shown a modified form of my improved feed bar and as here shown the helical groove 9 is omitted and the circuitous passage 12a is continued from the cavity 13 beneath the pen point through the end of the feed bar. The pen of FIG. 5 operates in the same way as the previously described pen, but in order to secure the desired length of feed passage a somewhat longer feed bar is required than in the preferred construction.

In the foregoing specification I have described in detail two forms of my improved feed bar, but it is to be understood that my invention is not limited to the specific structures described except insofar as recited in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a fountain pen a supporting sleeve, a pen nib, a feed bar mounted on said sleeve, said feed bar having one end forming a closure for the ink reservoir and its opposite end extending to a point beneath the pen nib, a cavity in the outer surface of the bar underlying the pen nib, said cavity lying wholly beyond the end of the sleeve, and a passage within the bar extending in a circuitous path from said cavity to a point on the surface of the bar within the supporting sleeve for the bar.

2. The fountain pen of claim 1 wherein a portion of said passage is shaped to provide a capillary groove for 3 the flow of ink with an overlying space for the inflow of the air.

3. The fountain pen of claim 1 wherein a portion of said passage consists of a helical groove around the upper end of said feed bar;

4. The fountain pen of claim 3 wherein the helical groove on two opposite sides of said bar has portions lying in a plane normal to the axis of the feed bar.

5. The fountain pen of claim 1 wherein the passage in the feed bar extends to the end of the bar at the bottom of the ink reservoir.

6. The fountain pen of claim 1 wherein said bar is formed of two halves with matching grooves forming a portion of said passage.

7. The fountain pen of claim 6 wherein the matching grooves are in the contacting faces of said halves.

8. The fountain pen of claim 6 wherein the halves of the feed bar are formed of molded plastic.

9. The fountain pen of claim 7 wherein a helical groove is provided at the upper end of the bar lying wholly within the sleeve and connecting with the matching grooves on the contacting faces of the said halves.

10. The fountain pen of claim 9 wherein the portions of the helical groove adjacent the contacting faces of the two halves lie in planes at right angles to the axis of the feed bar.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Burton Ian. 24, 1899 618,164 999,648 Houston Aug. 1, 1911 1,493,680 Koepsell May 13, 1924 1,574,929 Pollock Mar. 2, 1926 2,795,211 Nichols June 11, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 761,030 Great Britain Nov. 7, 1956 

